Compares the reactions of a normal human infant between the ages of 10 and 14.5 months to psychological tests, and the responses of a chimpanzee companion, age 7.5 to 12 months, to the same tests. Brings out the effects of different rates of growth and learning abilities and illustrates the capacity of the animal to outdo the child in many tests. Includes hand preference, startle reaction time, delayed reaction, cap-on-head, detour, tickle, ice and rotation test.

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Reviewer: LibrivoxOrgFan - - March 23, 2011
Subject: A boy & monkey raised together till 9 months!
Thank goodness that some intellectuals manage to reproduce, and rear their children alongside primates in the name of science. The kid may have some species identity issues later in life, but hey- I feel robbed for not having a monkey brother sibling!
The only cruel part I saw was when the scientist accidentally shut his trap door on the monkey's hand. Other than that, give me a break.

I laughed a lot!

Reviewer: RoboReview - - July 30, 2010
Subject: Animals (and humans) were harmed in the making of this film
Apparently there's a fine line between staid behavioral research films and bizarre child-and-chimp-torture camp. I'm surprised activists of one stripe or another haven't demanded the removal of this thing.

Reviewer: justywusty87 - - June 10, 2010
Subject: Cruel?
I think the ending where the man forces their eyelids up is cruel...

Also I hope that gun wasn't real. Still, creepy shooting a gun directly behind 2 babies.

I hope chimpanzees will be domesticated like cats and dogs one day. I would love to adopt 1. I know they are not just like regular animals and require a lot of attention and care, I think it would be nice though.

Reviewer: doowopbob - - April 10, 2010
Subject: ....Punish..?
....Monkey Smarter Than Kid..!...Monkey Needs A Lawyer....What Sick Minds In The Name Of Science..Calling Dr. Spock...Oh Ya..He Ruined The Baby Boomers...We Are Doomed..Pass Me A Banana Please..!..Im Regressing..!

Reviewer: Mental Cleanser - - January 25, 2009
Subject: Entertaining glimpse into early psychological research
A bit of background knowledge about "The Ape and The Child" study is helpful when watching the film: see http://www.psy.fsu.edu/history/wnk/ape.html, for example. This is only a few brief glimpses into the long timespan of the study, but they are interesting and at times amusing. The differences between the two test subjects (human Donald and chimpanzee Gua) were striking in some scenes, as were their similarities in other scenes.

While the end test of reaction to spinning was clearly not comfortable for either Donald or Gua, it also did not rise to the level of "torture."

Reviewer: One Only - - October 26, 2008
Subject: creepy ending
This vignette starts out with an innocent premise, "psychological" tests in an era before the vaunted infant research of the behaviourists. But Near the end, we see what amounts to what we would call torture today. Comparing infantile behaviour between species is of coursr, ludicris to us today, the more inherent fearfulness of the baby chimp is apparent in the loud noise sequence, a reaction which I am sure puzzled the researchers, but seems easily explained by the fact that the baby chimp MUST react strongly and quickly when surprised, simply to survive in the wild.